A typical Electronic Article Surveillance (“EAS”) system in a retail setting may comprise a monitoring system and one or more security tags or labels attached to articles to be protected from unauthorized removal. The monitoring system establishes a surveillance zone (also referred to as an interrogation zone), usually at an access point for the controlled area. Articles which are authorized for removal from the area can be deactivated or removed so as not to be detectable by the monitoring system. If the monitored item enters the surveillance zone with an active security tag, an alarm may be triggered to indicate possible unauthorized removal of the item.
As is known in the art, security tags (also referred to as labels) for EAS systems can be constructed in any number of configurations. The desired configuration of the tag or label is often dictated by the nature of the article to be protected. For example, an EAS label may be enclosed in a rigid housing which can be secured to the monitored item, such as hard tags containing EAS labels which are commonly attached to clothing in retail stores. For pre-packaged goods which are subject to retail theft, such as CDs, DVDs, small electronic devices, etc., an EAS label may be disposed within the packaging in such a way that it is hidden from the consumer at least during the pre-purchase period.
Some types of non-packaged consumer products which are sold in a retail setting have irregular shapes which are not readily adaptable for one-size-fits-all EAS tagging methods. Examples of such articles are golf clubs and a glass bottle having a tapered neck and a closure cap such as those which may contain wine or liquor. The products contained in the glass bottles can be expensive, and they are often displayed unprotected on retail shelves where they can be manually retrieved by a consumer for purchase. In such a setting, the bottles are vulnerable to shoplifting. It is therefore desirable to provide an inexpensive EAS security device which is adapted for attachment to a glass bottle or other object having an elongated portion.
Additionally, as cylindrical objects have a variety of diameters, a security device that fits an object having a relatively large diameter may be too large to be securely attached to an object having a small diameter. It is readily understandable that some objects, for example bottles, may have necks that are very narrow. For example, articles such as golf clubs and fishing poles, which may be very expensive, have an extremely thin shaft.
Therefore, what is needed is an EAS security device and adaptive insert that is adaptable to fit bottles and other objects having varying diameter elongated portions.